Elon Musk promised an AI epic to rival Christopher Nolan’s movie. Viewers bought a seven-minute glitch

Back in July, the international stage’s richest man promised in an X post that by the tip of the 12 months, he would launch a full-length, “traditionally correct” model of The Odyssey, the roughly 2,800-year-old Homer epic tailored for a Christopher Nolan movie that was launched this summer season. The promise got here after he ranted about Nolan’s model a number of occasions on X previous to its launch. At the guts of Musk’s criticism was the concept that Nolan’s model was too woke, notably for the famed director’s determination to forged actress Lupita Nyong’o, who’s Black, as Helen of Troy and her sister Clytemnestra.

Nolan’s movie, championed for its sweeping sensible results and real-world areas, has grossed $1.79 billion worldwide since its summer season debut.

Yet the rollout of Musk’s seven-minute opening episode highlights the cussed chasm between Silicon Valley bravado and narrative craft. Rather than a triumph of impartial, automated mythmaking over studio orthodoxy—or a gap shot in Musk’s litigation of the tradition wars—the quick was met with fast ridicule on-line for jarring scene transitions, plastic character fashions, and fashionable English dialogue that undercut Musk’s claims of authenticity.

In reply to an X post saying the venture, customers criticized the video high quality, saying it’s still clear the video was made with AI. Others stated the movie might have been improved if it was achieved the old-fashioned way. (Nolan is thought for his choice for actual filming areas over studio work and his use of sensible results.)

One person said the movie’s onerous cuts, a kind of transition between scenes that makes use of no visible results, made it extra apparent the place totally different prompts have been used. Another poked enjoyable at Musk’s declare from July that his movie, primarily based on the thousands-of-years-old work of fiction set within the Mediterranean, was going to be “traditionally correct.”

“It purported to be traditionally appropriate. Why are they speaking in English?” the person wrote.

SpaceXAI and Wonder Studios didn’t reply to Fortune’s requests for remark.

To make sure, some customers additionally stated the venture was step ahead for the class of AI-generated video, regardless of its shortcomings.

“There’s plenty of room for development, however the excellent news is there will likely be development,” wrote one X person.

The seven-minute-long characteristic is simply the primary episode of the AI-created work, in accordance with a submit saying the venture on X. The submit didn’t say what number of episodes can be launched in whole. 

Musk’s Odyssey was created with Grok Imagine, SpaceXAI’s AI picture and video era instrument that was launched publicly in 2025 and launched its newest replace in July. The instrument makes use of textual content prompts to make each photos and movies and might create movies of as much as 1080p high quality. Unlike different in style AI video instruments similar to Runway or Google Veo, Grok Imagine additionally features a “spicy mode” to create NSFW content material, which beforehand sparked some criticism. The characteristic remains to be accessible to customers with paid Grok subscriptions.

The movie was created in collaboration with director Dev Walker, a filmmaker specializing in AI, and Wonder Studios, a studio based in 2025 by filmmaker Justin Hackney and startup leader Xavier Collins with the mission of turning into the A24 of AI manufacturing, in accordance with Deadline. The studio has raised greater than $15 million from buyers together with unnamed angel buyers from AI corporations like OpenAI and Google DeepMind, in accordance with its web site. 

“As manufacturing prices collapse and distribution fragments, filmmakers have gotten founders, and the following period of leisure belongs to them,” the corporate’s web site reads.

Despite the enhancements in AI picture and video era through the years, which is maybe greatest exemplified by the viral video of Will Smith eating spaghetti, there have been few totally AI generated characteristic movies. Some early examples of partly AI generated initiatives embrace Where the Robots Grow, an 87-minute-long animated science fiction movie from AiMation Studios launched in 2024. The manufacturing was created with simply 9 individuals at a value of simply $8,000 per minute—lower than the low-budget tv animation sourced abroad at between $10,000 and $20,000 per minute, in accordance with Forbes. 

Despite Musk’s assaults, Nolan’s Odyssey has been in style with audiences and is the second-highest-grossing movie of the 12 months to this point.